Yakuza boss among 7 nabbed for disrupting land sale

By Staff Report on January 18,
20161 Comment

A sign announcing the establishment
of a pig farm was allegedly used to disrupt a real estate transaction

Makoto Suehiro

YAMAGUCHI (TR) – Police from
Fukuoka and Yamaguchi prefectures have arrested the head of an organized crime
group for disrupting the sale of a land parcel in Shimonoseki City, it was
learned on Monday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 12).

In July of last year, Makoto
Suehiro, the 74-year-old head of the Goda-ikka, which is based in Shimonoseki,
is alleged to have posting two 1.8-meter-wide signs on a parcel adjacent to the
one for sale that falsely announced the development of a pig farm. Two Japanese
flags were also installed on the property.

In April of last year, the land
was acquired for 60 million yen by a real estate company in Fukuoka’s Chuo
Ward. The company then contracted another real estate company, located in
Kitakyushu’s Kokurakita Ward, to resell the property for more than 100 million
yen but the transaction was cancelled.

Police also arrested another
high-ranking member of the same gang, a construction company employee and four
other suspects.

Suehiro had previously been
arrested for fraudulently registering the plot of land in his name.

The Goda-ikka, which is the
largest gang in Yamaguchi, has approximately 290 members and affiliate members,
according to the Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 13).